Entertainment

AOL Acquires About.me 4 Days After Official Launch

Splash-page startup About.me has been acquired by AOL for an undisclosed sum. The company went from stealth project to acquired startup in just a year's time.

About.me provides users with tools to create colorful profile pages that connect to and pull in content from their social media sites — much like competitor Flavors.me. The startup began letting users reserve their names and pages in September and only officially opened its doors on December 16. Today, however, About.me is now an AOL property.

Co-founder, serial entrepreneur and investor Tony Conrad has an ongoing close-knit relationship with AOL. In 2008, Conrad sold his previous company Sphere to AOL for an estimated $25 million. AOL Ventures also participated in About.me's $425,000 angel round of financing.

"About.me becomes an important piece of their strategy to reach across and engage the web," writes Conrad of AOL's interest in his young company. "We think it’s a huge advantage to become part of a suite of communication (AIM, Aol Mail) and community-driven (Patch, Seed) services. This is truly a win-win for our users, investors, team and Aol."

Conrad and team will join the Consumer Applications Group led by Brad Garlinghouse. From the sound of it, the About.me service will remain intact under AOL.

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